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Specification 12 Hot Rolled Asphalt and Macadam Appendix Y - Guidance Notes on Quality Systems
for Airfields for Project Managers
Appendix Y – Guidance Notes on Quality Systems for Project
Managers
Y.1 INTRODUCTION
These Guidance Notes are intended to assist
Project Managers in assessing Suppliers’ Quality
Assurance (QA) systems for the supply of
component and mixed materials as required by
Clause 2.4. In particular, guidance is given on:
• how to appraise and evaluate different Quality
Systems offered by Suppliers when tendering for
jobs (Clauses Y.5 and Y.6); and
• how to monitor work undertaken (Clause Y.7).
Separate clauses are devoted to each aspect.
Y.2 GENERAL
Y.2.1 These Guidance Notes are not intended to
replace the BS EN ISO 9000 series and associated
documentation.
Y.2.2 The generic term “Client” or “Purchaser” in
these Guidance Notes is to include the person or
organisation that is acting for, or on behalf of, the
Property Manager or the Project Sponsor in the role
of either a Project Manager.
Y.2.3 The generic term “Supplier” is used to cover
any person or organisation that has, or is tendering
for, a Contract with the Client to supply a product or
service, and includes those traditionally referred to
as the (main) Contractor.
Y.2.4 Products which are specified by means of a
Harmonised European Standard under the
Construction Products Directive are subject to CE
marking. It is not permitted to require additional
quality assurance or testing requirements over and
above those required for Attestation of Conformity
within the European Standard. The CE mark
certificate should be taken as sufficient evidence of
product conformity.
Y.3 QUALITY SYSTEMS
Y.3.1 It is now the accepted practice that all
suppliers of goods and services should:
• install and maintain a Quality Management
System; and
• become registered to a United Kingdom
Accreditation Service (UKAS) accredited third
party certification scheme as a Supplier of
assessed capability.
Y.3.2 It is general practice that, once a Quality
Management Scheme has been set up within an
organisation, application for registration to a second
or third party certification scheme will be made.
Y.3.3 Second party assessment is carried out by
the purchasing organisation; this is very expensive
because the resource requirements for systematic
and continuous auditing and the management of an
assessment scheme are extremely high.
Consequently, this form of registration is now in
decline and organisations which previously carried
out second party assessment, such as British
Telecom, British Gas, what used to be the National
Coal Board and the MoD, are beginning to insist
that their suppliers obtain third party assessment
and, hence, pay the costs of quality assurance.
Y.3.4 Certification of a Supplier’s Quality
Management System by a third party should
provide the Purchaser with the confidence that the
Supplier is:
• operating and maintaining a fully documented
Quality Management System that addresses
consistent requirements; and
• operating within the scope of registration.
This avoids the need for the Purchaser to undertake
his own structured regime of second party
assessments to ascertain the adequacy and focus
of the Supplier’s Quality Management Systems.
Y.3.5 However, this does not absolve the Project
Manager of his responsibilities on behalf of the
Client to ensure that the Quality System of the
Supplier addresses all the requirements and needs.
This is because the Quality Standards are
interpreted differently by individual organisations.
Y.3.6 In principal, the more independent the
assessment and audit regime, the more confident
the Purchaser can be as to the value of a Supplier’s
46 July 2010